Mr Nolden,
I was passing through one of the local gunshops near my home and came across an old full sized battle rifle that the guy behind the counter said it was a "Swedish Schmitt-Rubin" rifle.

He explained that the odd looking, wood knobed, "T" shaped, bolt handle was designed to allow use by alpine or arctic troops while wearing mittens or other cold weather hand protection, and it had a "straight pull" Mannlicher type bolt action. With that design the mitten thing made sence, as it also had what looked like a sriker rod that had a large "mitten sized" ring on it's end. This was explained as being "either the safty activator or was used to recock the striker/hammer alowing double strikes on a misfire". This rod/ring was located on the back of the bolt and was "cocked back" by the rearward motion of the bolt. The rear notch type site fixture was adjustable to ranges out to 2000 meters.

He's asking around $175 for it and I'm curious as to the history of this rifle and is the $$ amount they want worth it. Hell, the shop is not even sure of the ammo type it uses, so if I did buy it I don't even know it I'd be able to shoot the thing.

Any information you could provide would be a big help. It's a real neat looking piece.

Eduard Rubin (1846-1920) developed the first small caliber copper jacketed bullets successful enough to with stand higher velocities that were normal in the 188's. Rubin cartridges with
a caliber of 8.1-9.6mm were tested against an 8.6mm Hebler cartridge, which had a pape mache core, attained a respectable velocity byut the Rubin pattern was far more accurate.

Close with the Alpine, but not Arctic, as Harley says. The three models he mentions can be distinguished from one another by the magazine and bolt.

On the Model 1889, the magazine is far forward of the trigger guard and has a lever to lower it as a means of safety or firing single rounds while keeping the magazine in reserve.

The Model 1911 has the magazine closer to the trigger guard and there is no lever.

The Model 1931 has an almost flush magazine back against the trigger guard.

All have detachable magazines. The above is the reverse order of strength and desireability for shooting, with the Model 1931 being the latest and best. They are all nice collector items and are usually in good shape, since the Swiss did not fight a war in that period.

The cartridge is known as the 7.5 x 55 Swiss, and the problem is that there is almost no reasonable cost ammo available. Norma makes it, but the price is high. It is reloadable for the 1931, which uses a .308 bullet size, but the older rifles use a .297 bullet which is hard to get.

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